Critical Information for the Traveling Public

Northwest Airlines plane crashes since 1970

The following numbered events involve the death of at least one airline passenger where
the aircraft flight had a direct or indirect role, and where at least one of the dead passengers was not a stowaway, hijacker, or saboteur.
The events that are not numbered are listed because they meet the criteria of a significant event as defined by AirSafe.com

Northwest airlines merged with Delta Airlines in 2008

4 March 1987; Northwest Airlink (Fischer Brothers Aviation) CASA C212-CC; Detroit, MI: After a short, fast, and steep approach, the crew lost control of the aircraft and crashed beside the runway and caught fire.
Two of the three crew members and seven of the 16 passengers were killed.

16 August 1987; Northwest MD82; Detroit, USA: The crew neglected to properly set flaps for takeoff.
The aircraft stalled soon after takeoff and crashed onto a highway.
All six crew and 148 of 149 passengers were killed.
Two people on the ground were also killed.

3 December 1990; Northwest DC9-14; Detroit, MI: The DC9 was taxiing in fog and strayed onto an active runway where it was hit by a departing Northwest 727.
One of the four crew members and seven of the 40 passengers were killed.
There were no fatalities on the second aircraft

1 December 1993; Northwest Airlink (Express Airlines) BAe Jetstream 31; Hibbing, MN: The aircraft had a controlled flight into terrain about three miles (five km) from the runway threshold during an an excessively steep approach in conditions of snow and freezing fog.
Both crew members and all 16 passengers were killed.

25 December 2009; Northwest Airlines A330-300 (N820NW); Flight 253; near Detroit, MI:
A passenger on a Northwest Airlines A330-300(N820NW) apparently attempted to detonate an explosive device while the aircraft was approaching Detroit.
Flight 253 was an international flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, and early reports are that a passenger, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian national, allegedly had the device strapped to one of his legs, and that the device was triggered during descent (about 20 minutes before landing) and started a small fire.

The flight, operated by Northwest Airlines using an Airbus 330-300 aircraft with 278 passengers and 11 crew members on board, landed safely, and the suspect, the only person injured, was transported to a local hospital for treatment of serious burns.
Other A330 crashes and serious incidentsMore about this event